Do you get it now?

Australia is head­ing towards tem­per­a­tures you find in Hades. How much hot­ter does it need to get before the dis­be­liev­ers join the rest of us to seri­ously address cli­mate change and global warming?

The Bureau of Meteorology’s inter­ac­tive weather fore­cast­ing chart has added new colours – deep pur­ple and pink – to extend its pre­vi­ous tem­per­a­ture range that had been capped at 50 degrees [122°F].

Never before in 103 years of record keep­ing has a heat wave this intense, wide-spread, and long-lasting affected Australia. The nation’s aver­age high tem­per­a­ture exceeded 102°F (39°C) for five con­sec­u­tive days January 2 – 6, 2013–the first time that has hap­pened since record keep­ing began in 1910. Monday’s tem­per­a­tures extended that string by another day, to six.